Supreme Court

Justices seem to resolve Dogecoin arbitration dispute during argument

Wednesday’s oral argument in Coinbase v. Suski was the court’s second case in February under the Federal Arbitration Act, and by all accounts this one will be a lot easier for them to resolve than Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries. Coinbase is a technical dispute about the “delegation clause” in an arbitration agreement, which “delegates” to the arbitrator not only the job of resolving the dispute between the parties, but also the threshold question whether any particular dispute falls … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Bump-stock ban comes before Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has already heard oral argument in one major gun-rights case this term, and on Wednesday the court will hear another. In November, the justices heard United States v. Rahimi, a challenge to the constitutionality of a federal law that makes it a crime for someone who is the subject of a domestic-violence restraining order to have a gun. Wednesday’s case involves the interpretation of federal law rather than the Second Amendment. The question before the court … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Holding protest organizers liable for injuries

The Relist Watch column examines cert petitions that the Supreme Court has “relisted” for its upcoming conference. A short explanation of relists is available here.

The Supreme Court took care of a lot of relist business at its last conference, denying review in four serially relisted cases, in each instance with separate writings from the justices.

It finally denied review in the two cases challenging New York rent stabilization laws as a taking, which had been relisted 11 … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Social media content moderation laws come before Supreme Court

Once again, the relationship between the government and social media will headline arguments at the Supreme Court on Monday. NetChoice v. Paxton and Moody v. NetChoice are just the second of three social media disputes the court will hear this term. The justices on Monday will consider the constitutionality of controversial laws in Texas and Florida that would regulate how large social media companies like Facebook and X (formerly known as Twitter) control content posted on their sites.

Defending … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Double jeopardy clause bars Georgia from retrying man acquitted by reason of insanity

So what would you expect if a state supreme court wrote an opinion directly inconsistent with “perhaps the most fundamental rule” of the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence in the area, an opinion that would get a failing grade in any law school course on criminal law? Well, your first guess would be that the Supreme Court would unanimously reverse, and if you were bold you’d predict a short opinion assigned because of its triviality to the most junior justice. That … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Challenges to a Washington state legislative district

The Relist Watch column examines cert petitions that the Supreme Court has “relisted” for its upcoming conference. A short explanation of relists is available here.

It’s been a blissful, relist-free month since the court’s last conference. The justices will have a whopping 440 petitions and applications before them on Friday. Only two of those – both involving the same underlying controversy – are one-time relists.

Washington’s bipartisan redistricting commission redrew the state’s 49 legislative districts, including Legislative District … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Wonder Bread truck drivers seek exemption from mandatory arbitration

Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries Park St. brings the justices yet another case under a statute with which they are all too familiar – the Federal Arbitration Act. As regular readers will know, the court in the last few decades has heard numerous cases under the FAA. The great majority of those cases have involved arguments, by workers or customers, that for one reason or another courts should not enforce a pre-dispute arbitration agreement against them. And in almost all … Read the rest

Supreme Court

The morning read for Thursday, Feb. 15

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Thursday morning read:

Special counsel urges Supreme Court to deny Trump’s request for delay in immunity case (John Fritze, CNN)
Special Counsel asks Supreme Court not to delay Trump’s election interference trial (Maureen Groppe, USA Today)
The Case for Removing Trump From the Ballot Has a Fatal Originalist Flaw (Brook Thomas, Slate)
Founding fathers did not intend

… Read the rest